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Russian Barbers Agree: The Dominican Republic is the Place to Go This Year

I got my hair cut this morning at a barber shop on Union Avenue in Brooklyn called Model Barbers, where Jack and Oksana work. I like going there, because I can practice my feeble Russian on them and they always correct my mispronunciations and grammatical errors. Jack and Oksana are from Uzbekistan, but they refer to the whole former Soviet Union as Russia and personally identify as Russians. No matter what bad thing happens in America, they'll remind you that things are worse in Russia. As I sit in the chair, they banter with each other in rapid-fire Russian, and I can only pick out a few odd words: rabota (work), kanyeshna (certainly), zhopa (ass).

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Tags: Guidebook Says / Dominican Republic Field Trip / Guidebooks / → All Tags

Disgruntled Tourist Finds More Scrutiny, Less History In the Dominican Republic

It's hard to know whether the experts are giving you useful information or just the same old song and dance. That's why we're introducing Guidebook Says to commend or correct other travel media. Feel free to commend or correct us in the comments below! This week, we zero in on the Dominican Republic, a recent Field Trip subject.

Guidebook Says... "At airports, neither immigration nor customs officials pay much attention to tourists carrying an ordinary amount of luggage." -- Lonely Planet

Jaunted Says: Our single suitcase and carry-on were much more meticulously searched in the D.R. on the way out than when we passed through customs in San Juan. Zippered pockets were opened, books were flipped through, and at one point we were asked to describe the contents of a small clutch ("Uh... lip gloss?")

Only because of the guys in front of us did we know why: They had hid what looked like either fruit or cooked meat in their checked bags (wrapped in underwear, tee hee).

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Tags: Dominican Republic Field Trip / Recessionomics / → All Tags

The Up Side of a Down Market

Jaunted editor Ellen Wernecke hopes you had a great time visiting the Dominican Republic with her.

They came in the afternoon, great waves of dark-green sucking up all unoccupied space on the sand. We drew up our toes in horror. How dare they invade our beach? On a day this nice? The waiters and the towel guy looked on, impassive; by now, they're used to the daily invasion of hundreds of cruise travelers onto the Casa de Campo beach. The resort's relative emptiness prompted management to start offering nearby boats the chance to dump its passengers on its shores in the name of an "excursion" -- and so they came, clutching the ships' dark-green towels in their hands.

Unlike in the U.S., it is possible to go days, even weeks in the D.R. without being reminded of the recession, so long as you don't flip to an American channel or surf the Web. But the fingerprints of the downturn are everywhere, and not just for people on the beach during cruise hour. I had a lot of time to think about this on my last day on the island, in which not only was I confronted with the above deserted airport, I ended up getting a ride to the airport on -- kid you not -- a 55-passenger bus. Just me and the driver rattling around in there. So here are two things to expect in the new Caribbean economy:

More, but not always better, service. Tourist-facing business probably have a surfeit of workers even if they've gone through layoffs in the past year, but if you're looking for speedy service, maybe you should be vacationing in a McDonalds drive-through instead. Whether we were stopping in a local farmacia or a tony restaurant with a bilingual staff, we were helped in the same relaxed manner which, had we been in a hurry, might have annoyed us. But a downturn in visits is no reason to get snippy if you're one of the people who are still going. Willingness to check one's assumptions about the cultural value of time is a great thing to put in your carry-on.

Independent vendors getting more aggressive. The resort used to ban people who came to the beach to sell coconuts from hawking their wares; now they're allowed to play through. Truth is, many Dominicans' economic situations are in trouble unrelated to the recession, since tourist development mostly create jobs for either the very educated (which pay a living wage) or those willing to do manual labor (which don't); for most, that means supplementing licensed work income with unlicensed business. (Steven Gregory's The Devil in the Mirror is a great, albeit depressing, read on tourism and the Dominican Republic specifically.) You don't have to use local vendors, but most of them aren't out to trick you; they're just making a living.

My intent is not to dissuade you from visiting the D.R. or any other Caribbean destination; I had an incredible time and there are deals to be had if you are in a position to take them. From stargazing under a stand of palm trees to dancing a beachside merengue, the sights and sounds are the best souvenir. Still, tread lightly.

Related Stories:
· Bruce Willis Won't Let Caribbean Economy "Die Hard" [Jaunted]
· Everyone Still Going On Cruises, Royal Caribbean Says [Jaunted]
· Dominican Republic Field Trip [Jaunted]

[Photo of La Romana International Airport by the author.]

Tags: Dominican Republic Field Trip / Polo / → All Tags

Ponies! The Lost Sport of Polo

Jaunted editor Ellen Wernecke just got back from a trip to the Dominican Republic and this series has been a very convenient procrastination device.

We hadn't planned for it, but our trip fell at the end of the D.R.'s unofficial polo season. Not a sport we associated with the country -- more like old white dudes with too much money in the U.K. -- but the horse-driven sport is, if not exactly making a comeback, still drawing a few fans' attention.

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Tags: Dominican Republic Field Trip / Christopher Columbus / Rafael Trujillo / History Travel / Santo Domingo Travel / → All Tags

Santo Domingo: Columbus Probably Slept Here

Jaunted editor Ellen Wernecke just got back from a trip to the Dominican Republic and, truly, has not finished unpacking yet. But that won't stop her from sharing the highlights of her trip, no siree.

The historical relativism and occasional indifference included in any given tour of old Santo Domingo would make a history professor's head explode. Our hired Dominican guide, absent the ability to ad-lib in English, repeated his frequently outlandish statements about, say, the former church where pregnant women would go and then magically have their babies in two hours.

He was a fount of these stories, doubtless rooted in truth, as well as the locations of every cigar store that offered him a premium for bringing by American shoppers.

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Plantains: They're What's For Lunch

Jaunted editor Ellen Wernecke just got back from a trip to the Dominican Republic and before she's even unpacked, will be giving her take on jungles, jingoism, and the Caribbean tourism slump.

If it looks like a banana but is treated like a potato, it must be a plantain -- a staple of Central American food which pops up all over in Dominican cooking.

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Tags: Dominican Republic Field Trip / Tourist Traps / → All Tags

The Prettiest Tourist Trap You Ever Did See

Jaunted editor Ellen Wernecke just got back from a trip to the Dominican Republic and before she's even unpacked, will be giving her take on jungles, jingoism, and the Caribbean tourism slump.

We're not immune to the kitschy charm of the tourist trap in its many guises. But we have a bit of an allergy to tourist traps which protest all the more mightily that they are Historic and Important! Still, we were taken in by the looks of this Dominican town built as an anachronistic present and, potentially, the only slice of "authentic" culture with which most tourists are represented.

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Your Dominican Republic Expertise, Please!

In which our Jaunted editor Ellen gets by with a little help from her friends.

Crowdsourcing saved my life. Not literally, because I am not in the habit of jumping into large crowds, but I sure do like asking the Internet for advice. It's not that I'm indecisive by nature, really, I'm a deliberator; I just like to weigh all my options.

I'm about to go to the Dominican Republic, and after consulting the Jaunted archives am quite sure I would not like to do a photo shoot, hang with Crockett and Tubbs or get married there. Well, not on this trip anyway. So I thought I'd throw it out to our readers: What should I do in the DR?

If it helps, I am staying in the La Romana region, I love the ocean and, as with everything we do here, I don't want to be where all the other travelers are. I've got some ideas up my sleeve, but I'll give you full credit if you find me something I'll love.

Tell Ellen what to do in DR right here.

Related Stories:
· Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Shot in Dominican Republic [Jaunted]
· British Territories Travel: Where Are The Chagos Islands? [Jaunted]
· Dominican Republic Travel [Jaunted]

[Photo: kamphuis]

Tags: 2009 Swimsuit Issue / Bikinis / Tatiana Golovin / Sports Illustrated Travel / → All Tags

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Shot in Dominican Republic

A few weeks ago we were a-guessing as to what sand the ladies of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue would be rolling around in for this year's edition and while we had some good ideas about who would be featured in the photos, we still had no good idea where the shots were going down. Until now.

Tipster CI told us:

It comes out on Feb 10 and is being shot in the Dominican Republic. Thanks to Tatiana Golovin and her website golovin-attitude.com for news!

Tatiana is one of those Moscow-born tennis players who will model for the issue. And we went to her website so you don't have to--it's all in French.

This should give a big boost to Dominican Republic tourism which previously only had family-friendly spots and cock-fighting to entice visitors. NYC-based models or folks looking to escape the cold can take Jet Blue to get there. However, just remember the Maxim Bungalows Hotel is no longer affiliated with Maxim magazine.

Have any more tips about location shoots or who will make the magazine this year? Fill us in!

[Photo from 2008 of Ana Beatriz Barros in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua: SI]

Tags: Animals / Cockfights / Caribbean Travel / Sports Travel / → All Tags

Cockfighting Travel: The Caribbean Capital of Combat

Cockfights are the kind of thing you can usually avoid, but if you're in the Dominican Republic, the matches might find you. The bouts may be gruesome, but they're a part of everyday life in much of the nation, especially in the countryside. And a handful of pro baseball players--including Pedro Martínez and Aramis Ramírez--controversially attend the fights when in their home country.

Cockfight clubs are the main venue for the sport, where seating galleries surround small rings with astroturf floors. The local style calls for plastic spikes to be attached to the birds' feet to increase the ferocity of the fight. After paying a small entry fee, be ready for lots of betting and lots of beer. Fights can go on for 15 minutes, or they can end quickly, either with death or the equivalent of a rooster TKO.

In the DR, the sport's legal and regulated by the National Commission of Cockfighting, and there are 1,500 venues throughout the country that hold certified fights. That said, it's definitely not for everyone.

Post-click, a well-done video tour of the cockfights.

Related Stories:
· Dominicans Say Cockfighting Is in Their Blood [NYT]
· Mess with the Bull, Get the Gore [Jaunted]

[Photo: Rebeca Argudo for The New York Times]

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Tourism Board Travel: Mamajuana in the Dominican Republic

Since JetBlue announced service to the Dominican Republic last month the Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism wants to give travelers even more reasons to visit. Problem is, the agency's descriptions of the country's draws are a bit staid:

Year-round sports, effervescent nightlife, distinctive souvenir shopping, magnificent national parks and world class gambling make for a jam-packed vacation to do list.

We prefer the description from everyone's favorite conquerer, Christopher Columbus, who described this lush land as "a beautiful island paradise with high forested mountains and large river valleys."

Only thing is, he forgot to mention that these days you can haggle for mamajuana--a soothing elixir that's more legal than its similar-sounding counterpart--in the street markets of Santa Domingo. Sounds to us like something the tourism board should be hyping a bit more.

Related Stories:
· Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism [Official Site]
· JetBlue Expanding Caribbean Routes [Jaunted]
· Tourism Board Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: mdelcid]

Tags: Eat-n-Sleep / Caribbean Travel / → All Tags

Eat 'n Sleep in the Dominican Republic :: Cafe Montez and Hotel Atarazana

Our Eat 'n Sleep feature profiles a restaurant in a random city and a hotel nearby. It's kinda like that old show "Dinner and a Movie" but you know, with restaurants and hotels. And better jokes.

The 2-million-strong city of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic has one of those to-die-for climates: The average high year round is between 85 and 90 degrees. The Colonial Zone of the city is popular for visitors, and has plenty of good places to eat and sleep. But we like one place in particular.

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